Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Season Previews

It's hard to judge for sure what's to be expected from KC this year, there's been quite a bit of roster turn over been last year and this year, as 9 new players are currently on the roster this year. Yet there seems to be a consensus among "experts" and other bloggers that the Wizards will be one of the bottom feeders of the East. I put "experts" in quotes because my guess is that most if not all of these guys haven't seen the Wizards play once this season. They're basing their opinions on how the team did last season and the fact that there's been ton of turnover. From Duane Rollins at The 24th Minute to Steve Davis at SI.com, no one seems to be giving the Wizards a chance. Both Match Fit USA and Major League Soccer Talk both pick KC to pick at the bottom of the East this year. Another poor preview, was Four Four Two's very lame attempt at the expected baseball joke and inability to actually provide any real insight.

If you want the worst, though, you don't have to look any further than Davis' other preview, his preseason rankings. Davis says of KC, "Manager Peter Vermes likes the personnel and elected not to make many changes. I think that was a mistake – but that’s why they play these games. Prove me wrong, Pete!" Excuse me Steve? KC didn't make many changes? You don't call getting rid of 12 players, and adding 9 new ones (11 with Fuzetti and Chhetri potentially still being added) many changes? With those players gone, the Wizards got rid of 111 of the 330 starts last year, or 33% of their starts. Another 30 subs from those 12 players. A turn over of 33% of the Wizards starts isn't making many changes? But hey it saved him the trouble of actually having to research by just making a random statement. If you want to see another Wizards' fan's take on this, check out James post over at KCW Fans.

I'm going to make a wild guess that none of these people have seen much of the Wizards this preseason. In fact if you made either last Tuesday's game against UMKC or last Friday against AC St. Louis, you've probably seen more than these 4 have seen of the Wizards this preseason. This is what I don't like about these season previews, they make guesses off of what KC was like last season, look at the names KC has brought in, do a quick Google search of those new players, see how impressive they are and make their completely baseless guesses. There's a reason in my multiple years of doing this blog that I've never done a full MLS season preview, that's because I don't watch all the teams compete in preseason, I don't know how the new players for each team are looking, or what to expect in terms of formation changes. What I do know is what I've seen of the Wizards in the 3 preseason games I've seen and I'll say this, the Wizards are going to impress plenty of people this season and surprise many more. Based off of what I've seen of the Wizards I wouldn't call making the playoffs a stretch, as long as all the new players gel well.

HA! Can't wait for Smith make you eat your words, scaryice. You are just another so called expert who hasn't seen him play this preseason. You clearly have at least a small pair for making a comment on a KC fan's blog and pretty much admit your ignorance.

I really have no problem with people rating KC low because they have no clue what to expect - it makes sense to do so... and despite the fact that many of us have seen them play and feel they are looking pretty good, we've not seen this squad play a competitive match against another MLS opponent.

If someone is going to make a full-league preview then they pretty much have to put the team somewhere, and the bottom makes as much sense as any. Duane Rollins says that we're tough to predict, and I give him credit for that - at least be honest and say "but I really have no clue" and move on.

Though I do have to say that "Smith is a clear downgrade" is a stupid thing to say. Replacing a 35 year-old with a 23 year-old, no matter how fit that 35 year-old was, has to be considered positive in some respects... I'm not saying he's a "clear upgrade" (on paper) either, but surely deserves some level of indecisiveness.

Clearly most people have not seen the Wizards play this pre-season. I thought Lopez was great, but to say that Smith is a downgrade is just CRAZY. His skill level is equal to someone from the Premier League. He takes on anyone he sees and does it well, too. I, for one, see that Peter Vermes has brought in some very quality players.